Troubleshoot battery system

[elderblaze]

I appreciate all the feedback guys. I was leaning towards a bad battery, but you've all given me other things to think about. I just was a little put off by the advice that my "Consumer" gear is inadequate for this very small workload. Perhaps I should not have taken offense, but that put me on the defensive.

My workload is far far less then a typical campervan or RV. Very intermittent, it may be because the community here is simply not familiar with my requirements, and as most of you are not locksmith's, that's a fair expectation.

I have ordered a Noco Genius 5 smart charger from amazon, and it will arrive on sunday. I intend to hook it up and fully charge the battery and see how it performs. Though I did just check the battery and it's sitting at 12.88 volts after sitting for 18 hours with no load/charge. This suggest a "Full battery" or at least 90-95% capacity.

I appreciate the sugestion for a battery monitor, I felt I really did not need that much information as the Inverter does show battery voltage and amperage going out. My biggest key machine pulls about 700 watts.

The reason I did not simply do what was done before is, 1, i don't want to kill my starter battery every 3 years and get stuck somewhere. 2, I thought i'd have a long 5+ year life out of house batteries if I took these extra measures. (oversized battery, smart dc dc charger, lite workload). I always felt like running an inverter from a starter battery was the "Wrong" way to do this.

I suspect its' this piece of **** Renogy no name, made in china battery. I'll never buy an "online" battery again, no way no how, that's the biggest lesson to be learned, buy your battery local so you can return it and get it replaced under warranty.

 

[elderblaze]

double.

 

[elderblaze]

Ok buddy you've shown me the door, i have no problem using the exit. But before I go, you tell me where else I could go to get advice on this topic since im a "Locksmith asking for advice in the wrong place". I looked up the spec's on the key machine, it's a little hard to find as it's an older machine, it has a 1/4 horse power motor and the manufacturer recommends at least a 500 watt inverter to operate it. The battery chargers your so worried about get used about once every month for no more then 45 minutes. Usually when the truck is running, as batteries normally charge while im driving.

Peace

If this key duplicator is pulling 7 amps AC, then that's about 70-100 amps DC to the inverter from your little wimpy AGM battery, that is not getting replaced in the 30 minutes to 1 hour of drive time thru the ctek charger. 

Add in the several amps for drill battery and laptop charging, repeat several times daily, and voila...slow battery death.

Please confirm or not, whether your duplicator is pulling 7 amps AC, or if that is 7 amps DC input to the inverter.

At any rate, my recommendation for the genset is because sometimes you need it to power your equipment AND charge your batteries, other times, you would only need to run the equipment thru the inverter and batteries. But you would have that generator when and if you needed it.
 
Keep in mind that we can not, by default, be 'out of line' when making suggestions, that you requested. (your word: 'Thoughts!) All our suggestions are appropriate, since we are not TELLING you what to do.

However you could be 'out of line' for asking for help with a locksmith business on a website that is clearly marked: CHEAP RV LIVING.

There is a huge amount of collective experience here, ignore and insult it at your own loss.

 

[mjbeam64]

One of the problems is that you are not monitoring how much energy you are removing from your battery and how much you are replacing when you charge it, so we don't really have enough information to be able to give you very good advice. You might have a bad battery, or you might just be undercharging it. It might even now be damaged because you have been undercharging it for too long. We have no way to know. Good luck in your future endeavors.

 

[Weight]

Your apology is accepted. I will recommend you get a better battery. I got mine at Battery Plus Bulbs. But even Walmart has decent ones. I also think you need larger gauge cables for the charging circuit. With what you are trying, voltage drop becomes a big problem. You might even want to check LiFePo4 battery. They can be charged quickly.

 

[B and C]

Solar systems are cheap to operate, not cheap to build. Being your own power company has trade offs.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Ok buddy you've shown me the door, i have no problem using the exit. 

No one is showing you the door, but the very people who are doing their best to TRY to help you...are the ones you are griping to, and about.

I get the frustration in your posts. But the posted suggestions and recommendations are sincere, even if you don't find that they agree with your assessment. 

Again, good luck with your situation.